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SPECIAL REPORT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPORTS OFFICIALS SPORTS OFFICIATING 2003 2 SPECIAL REPORT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPORTS OFFICIALS SPORTS OFFICIATING 2003 Written By Dave Sabaini Edited By Jim Arehart, Referee associate editor for the National Association of Sports Officials Racine, Wis. 4 NASO Special Report: Sports Officiating 2003 – Accountability In Officiating Material contained in this Special Report was current and applicable at the time of publishing. If you become aware of inaccuracies in the Special Report, please contact the author at the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) at 262/632-5448; Fax 262/632-5460; or e-mail [email protected]. Additional copies of this report are available from the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) for $10.00 each. Copyright © 2003 by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), 2017 Lathrop Avenue, Racine, WI 53405. Published jointly by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) and Referee Enterprises, Inc. (REI), P.O. Box 161, Franksville, WI 53126. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced in any form or by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher. Written by Dave Sabaini Edited by Jim Arehart Cover and layout by Lisa Martin Printed in the United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Brave New World ———————————— 7 Educational Program ————————————————— 9 The Buck Stops Here: Principles of Accountability ———— 10 Code of Conduct: What Now? ————————————— 14 It’s a Two-Way Street ————————————————— 19 Game Accountability ————————————————— 23 Great Ways to Reward Officials ———————————— 26 Let’s Take Another Look ——————————————— 30 24-7-365 —————————————————————— 34 Disciplining Officials — AGuide ———————————— 38 A Better Way ———————————————————— 42 What Officials Want ————————————————— 45 Your Legal Rights and Responsibilities ————————— 50 In Full View ————————————————————— 53 Appendix 1 NASO Accountability Survey ———————— 56 Appendix 2 Sports Officiating 2003 Speaker List ————— 59 About the Author —————————————————— 62 6 7 Introduction: Brave New World The issue of accountability in officiating has long been misunderstood. Who hasn’t heard the cry from coaches, both famous and local, that officials aren’t held accountable? That we show up to work the games and disappear immediately after, leaving any number of messes in our wake? As officials, we know we are accountable. When it comes to accountability, we understand and readily accept that we are accountable to our games, but also that the games — and the people who run them — are accountable to us. In June, officiating leaders from all over the country, representing every level of competition from the pros, colleges and high school on down, gathered in Portland, Ore., to discuss issues of accountability and to seek answers to critical problems. There is an inevitability to accountability. Historically there’s been general banter about that. We’ve talked about being held accountable in the dressing rooms, in the bar after the game. But let’s formalize that concept because once you buy onto the formality of the concept that you’re going to be held accountable, it causes you to look at these things in a different way. By and large, when we hear the word accountability, it means what? Pounding them down and not lifting them up. It can have negative connotations. We were very careful in putting a program together to make sure we had an equal dose, if you will, of both. One of our goals is to help put a different face on accountability in the mind of the officiating community, as well as the administrators of the games we work. Scrutiny can tear down, or it can be a way to build up. And for the latter, it needs to be part of a system that includes training, evaluation, accountability and rewards. As you go through this report, which reflects the educational program of the Portland conference, you’re going to be confronted with such topics as the principles of accountability, codes of conduct and covenants for and with sports officials, ways to reward officials, and the role and inevitability of the media. You’re also going to read about disciplining officials. First of all you ask the questions, should we be disciplined? Should we ever be disciplined? If the answer is no, this is easy. But if the answer is yes, we have to define a spectrum now. Accountability In Officiating 8 Defining, understanding and implementing — those are the goals in discussing accountability. Please share this report with those you know who can influence change. Accountability in officiating needs to be demystified and discussed. While NASO is taking the lead to make a difference, it’s up to you and your fellow officials back home to continue to carry the torch. All of us must pull together to make a meaningful difference. The responsibility lies with anyone interested in furthering excellence in officiating. NASO takes great pride in serving as a catalyst for that endeavor, and in providing a forum for sports leaders to come together and tackle officiating issues face to face and hands on. We hope this report helps you continue to reach for officiating excellence in your organization. Sincerely, Barry Mano President, NASO 9 2003 PORTLAND, OREGON ACCOUNTABILITY IN OFFICIATING Educational Program All the sessions at NASO’s 21st annual national conference related to the overall conference theme of accountability in officiating, with each examining the issue from a different angle. Structured to have a logical flow, the educational program outlined accountability topics, begging questions such as what are the principles of accountability, why is a code of conduct important, what does the game owe officials, how and when should officials be disciplined, as well as many others. What follows is a breakdown of each session in order, including a speaker list and pertinent information of what was discussed. Additionally, throughout this report, you will see supporting information from a survey of NASO members, in which they noted their opinions of a wide spectrum of accountability issues. The entire survey, including results, may be found in Appendix 1, NASO Accountability Survey Results, on p. 56. 10 The Buck Stops Here: Principles of Accountability Presenter: Jerry McGee With accountability as the theme for the 2003 NASO Conference, what could be more appropriate than defining what accountability is, who is to be held accountable and how? That was the assignment laid before Jerry McGee, president of Wingate University and a major college football official. “While I’m confident that professional sports have workable and useful plans in place, my experience has shown that for the most part in college and high school officiating, accountability programs are characterized by fragmentation, frustration and a lack of utility,” noted McGee. He believes the problem is particularly acute at the collegiate level since there is a conscious effort to hold officials accountable there. “I certainly don’t mean to sound too critical of those who supervise college officiating,” McGee said. “They usually come to their positions from backgrounds where they would not be required to supervise others, and they’re asked to assume these positions with very little or no training. Too often the result is a continuation of a process that has been flawed for many years.” McGee indicated that as long as things go well, nobody notices all the hard work everyone has put in, but let something go wrong, and everyone begins looking for someone to blame. When some sort of review or corrective process takes place, McGee feels that it is often more negative than constructive. To help point the way toward a clearer model of accountability, McGee gave his version of effective tenets for accountability: Accountability In Officiating 11 Clear, measurable and significant goals These may include making preseason expectations clear, mandatory study sessions, national and/or regional clinic attendance, standards for physical conditioning, rules preparation and game performance expectations like mechanics and judgment. “What’s expected in terms of rule preparation? Are you going to be given an individual test at your clinic? Will it be a group test? Will be an open book test? Will it be a test given by crew? All those things are important because it all goes back to how you prepare for it,” McGee noted. “All of us want to do a good job,” said McGee, “but we have to know what the rules are. As supervisors change, as high school administrators change, or the high school athletic director changes, there’s always a constant change in what’s expected. We need to know exactly what’s expected of us.” “The most important thing is what’s expected in terms of game performance,” McGee urged. “We have more people who get in trouble officiating by doing one of two things: being late and talking when they should be listening. How many outstanding officials have you known who have had wonderful judgment on the field or on the court, but they make the wrong remark to an assistant coach or the wrong remark to a fan or to a player?” Monitor progress: focus on improving performance, not punishing failure That could include individual annual evaluations along with a performance comparison to previous years’ results. Accentuate the positive. Provide game tapes whenever possible. Assign senior officials to mentor newer officials. Demonstrate officiating techniques to be emulated. McGee noted that the type of analysis needed of officials to improve significantly is just beginning to become available at the collegiate level. “I think it’s important for us to look at (officiating patterns),” said McGee, “because you probably have missed a few calls. The idea is not to go out and call 10 more fouls a game. But the idea is to have consistency from official to official.

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